Just To Be Sure
by MaximumVolume
Summary: In which Luffy frets, Nami soothes, and everything is fine.


They're outside on the windiest day of the week and he's got no jacket on. They had docked on a nearby island to restock on supplies and indulge in their own pleasantries when she spots him, wide-eyed and bare-armed with the biggest grin she's ever seen plastered on his face.

"Idiot!" Nami says, lacking the usual bite in her comment due to the fact that it's too windy and cold. She turns around to face him with her arms full of bags and does her best to keep her ginger hair from obscuring her view. "What are you doing?!"

"Ha?" He gives her a hapless, hopeless smile. The whole -_cold weather-jacket-warmth-_ logic just flies right over his head and Nami gives a sigh.

"Aren't you cold, Luffy?" she says, and, in typical Luffy fashion, the boy spaces out for a moment before a shiver crawls up his back and he wraps his arms around himself, knees bent and face pinched.

"It's cold!" He exclaims into the wind and the navigator presses her lips into a thin line and scrutinizes her captain with wine brown eyes, sharp and clear.

"I thought you would say that. Here, I bought you something." Nami goes fishing through one of her many shopping bags and pulls out a black jacket, fresh and new from its wrappings. She hands it to him, and he clenches it between his fingers before giving her a big, luminescent smile.

"Wow, thanks Nami!" Nami nods, waving off the comment lazily. She tries not to think about how much that jacket cost and how he'll probably ruin it in less than a day or two, but for the life of her (and the crew) she can't afford him getting sick. _I'll just put it towards his debt,_ she thinks with a sly smile and watches him try it on. It's a little long in the sleeves and has a big red star on the back, in which Luffy gleefully examines with one long twist of his rubber neck. The sight is just another reminder that her captain is anything but ordinary.

"So..." His voice leads way to hesitance, short and shy. Nami frowns in puzzlement and turns to him. "You're not still mad, y'know, about earlier?"

* * *

It takes a minute for Nami to realize what he's talking about and when she does, it makes her mouth settle into an even deeper frown.

She had been working upon the deck with her map, just near finished and proud of her handiwork. Even though her maps are always perfect, this one looks especially good, beautifully drawn and detailed. She had set it down, to take a sip of the drink Sanji brought to her when Luffy went bounding towards her with his loud voice and cheerful calling. He had bumped into the table, because Luffy wasn't careful with _anything_, and the impact caused her inkwell to topple over sideways and onto her precious map, staining through the parchment in a thick black puddle of midnight.

When Nami saw what he had done, she very nearly choked on her beverage, coughing and yelling in between to scold him (although the desired affect was lost in the strangled sound of her vocal cords as she rasped and her shoulders shook).

Afterwards, Nami was practically in tears. Her fingers were smudged from trying to salvage her map and they cramped from such extensive drawing and hours of precise editing. She had given him such a hard and broken look, because that was her _third_ map this week that was ruined, and retired to her room, not feeling up to wasting her breath on how he shouldn't act so recklessly. She had just given up.

* * *

"Well, I'm not happy," Nami comments, the earlier shopping spree was a big enough deterrent to push the memory from her mind, but it's revival only made her stomach sink more.

"I'm sorry," Luffy's voice is shockingly small and low. "I mess everything up, huh?" His words were laced with such (sadness?) and apology that Nami drops her bags onto the ground. She's never seen him look so small or heard him so down before. This was Monkey D. Luffy! He didn't deserve to look that way!

With a shake of her head, Nami's got both hands on his shoulders, roughly swiveling him around until he's facing her. Her chest clenches at his expression, unable to believe that a map caused him to look and feel this way.

"Luffy," she says sternly. "it's okay, alright? I'm not mad anymore."

"But-"

_"No!"_ She gives him a little shake, jostling his thin frame. "Look, I was angry before but I'm fine now. Accidents happen, I can always make another map."

_Just get rid of that look,_ she pleads inwardly. _smile for me. Stop looking so shattered, it's just a stupid piece of paper! You could ruin a thousand maps and it wouldn't hurt as much as what you're doing now does!_ She wants to shout these words into the void, let the whole world hear it, because the world will never understand how much this boy means to her, how much she feared to see his happy nature slip into something more dark, something mirroring two years of shadowed absence.

She knows what he's going to say before he even says it, and she stops him again with another shake, the wine in her eyes threaten to spill.

"I worked hard on it, I know. But I've had to work with harder things before, so stop looking so guilty." She fixes him with fire burning in her gaze.

"You're _fine_ Luffy, you'll always be okay, and so will I. More work never killed me, and it won't this time either."

He's silent in her grip, minutes tick by in what seems like forever. Then, his head is lifted with a sincere smile on his face, relief making it grow wider until it's threatened to burst like fireworks.

"Okay...thanks, Nami."

The rush of air leaves her body and she pulls her hands away to see him visibly relax. She's about to bend over, to pick up her bags, when something rough and scratchy is placed atop her head. Nami looks up at Luffy from the brim of his beloved hat as he looks toward the sky, hand in his pockets and Nami is afraid her heart is going to burst from the love she feels for him.

She said it was okay.

He's just checking to make sure.

* * *

**[AN: I'm just a writing machine today, aren't I? This little plot bunny wouldn't leave my head, so I wrote it out real quick. I'm making up for lost time, and hopefully, this one is just as good as my most recent one. Please review and tell me what you think!]**


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